Higher Education · West Coast University, Orange County

Simulation Center Expansion

The build

The brief. West Coast University's nursing program was outgrowing its clinical training space. They needed a simulation center that read as a working hospital floor — realistic enough for high-fidelity manikin scenarios — yet reconfigurable as cohorts and curriculum changed, without a capital project every few years.

Our role. We led the project from programming through construction documents. Each simulation pod is operated from a central control room with one-way glass and A/V tie-ins to the adjacent observation classrooms, so a full cohort can watch a live scenario without crowding the bay. To keep the floor flexible, we specified a custom DIRTT modular, medical-grade wall system — rated for the simulators' power, data, and med-gas loads, and demountable so the campus can relocate or add pods as the program evolves.

The outcome. A teaching environment that behaves like a real care setting — and a floor plate the university can re-plan in days rather than months, with no demolition and no downtime between terms. Because the DIRTT walls are demountable, they also become a reusable capital asset: they move to the next build instead of a dumpster.

Programming · space planning · construction documents · FF&E coordination · DIRTT specification
ClientWest Coast University
SectorHigher Education
LocationOrange County, CA
ScopeSimulation center + labs
FeatureCustom DIRTT medical wall
ServicesProgramming → CD

See the thinking · drag

The space, and the study behind it.

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Built
Study

The work

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Adjacent science lab
Skills / imaging lab
Reception + lobby
Collaboration space

The plan · click a room

Level 1 — explore it.

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Interactive plan
Each space opens its area and the design note — a plan a client can actually explore, not a flat PDF.

“The custom DIRTT wall lets the campus reconfigure the whole floor — no demolition — as the program grows.”

the design collectiv Site by Edova · built, run & owned by the firm